ndeed, such a risk to one's
life, if there had been nothing to learn from it, would have been
foolish.

No; Pegoud's thrilling performance must be looked at from an entirely
different standpoint to such feats of daring as the placing of one's
head in the jaws of a lion, the traversing of Niagara Falls by means of
a tight-rope stretched across them, and other similar senseless acts,
which are utterly useless to mankind.

Let us see what such a celebrated airman as Mr. Gustav Hamel said of the
pioneer of upside-down flying.

"His looping the loop, his upside-down flights, his general acrobatic
feats in the air are all of the utmost value to pilots throughout the
world. We shall have proof of this, I am sure, in the near future.
Pegoud has shown us what it is possible to do with a modern machine.
In his first attempt to fly upside down he courted death. Like all
pioneers, he was taking liberties with the unknown elements. No man
before him had attempted the feat. It is true that men have been upside
down in the air; but they were turned over by sudden gusts of wind, and
in most cases were killed. Pegoud is all the time rehearsing accidents
and showing how easy it is for a pilot to recover equilibrium providing
he remains perfectly calm and clear-headed. Any one of his extraordinary
positions might be brought about by adverse elements. It is quite
conceivable that a sudden gust of wind might turn the machine completely
over. Hitherto any pilot in such circumstances would give himself up
for lost. Pegoud has taught us what to do in such a case.... his flights
have given us all a new confidence.

"In a gale the machine might be upset at many different angles.
Pegoud has shown us that it is easily possible to recover from such
predicaments. He has dealt with nearly every kind of awkward position
into which one might be driven in a gale of wind, or in a flight over
mountains where air-currents prevail.

"He has thus gained evidence which will be of the utmost value to
present and future pilots, and prove a factor of signal importance in
the preservation of life in the air."

Such words as these, coming from a man of Mr. Hamel's reputation as an
aviator, clearly show us that M. Pegoud has a life-saving mission for
airmen throughout the world.

Let us stand, in imagination, with the enormous crowd of spectators who
invaded the Surrey aerodrome on 25th September, and the two following
days, in 1913.

What an enormous cr